Business Commons^™

Marketing Maple, Kevin Budzenski

Senior Honors Projects

In February of 2018, The University of Rhode Island was given a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the form of $470,000 to research the benefits of maple and communicate these properties to the northeast region of the United States. The grant was awarded to increase domestic maple sales through research and spreading awareness on the benefits of maple including its anti-inflammatory and glucose stability properties as well as its beauty capability to fight wrinkles. This research has also shown that maple could be a healthier alternative for sugar and artificial sweetener.

This project aims at using Google …

Sino-Us Trade War, Erin Torgersen

Senior Honors Projects

China and the United States are unquestionably the two wealthiest economies in the world. These two countries alone account for almost half of the world’s wealth. As these nations battle to become the world's most powerful economy, it is no surprise high tensions have developed to complicate their relationship. China’s economy has been rapidly growing, especially in the last two decades as China is making its way towards the top of the list of strongest economies through its abundance of exports and manufacturing. Alternatively, as the U.S.’s economy has slowly decreased in the last few years, the gap between the …

Uri And Its Students: A Contract For The Provision Of A Safe Environment, Danielle Joan Beatrice

Senior Honors Projects

DANIELLE BEATRICE (English; Philosophy; Business) URI and Its Students: A Contract for the Provision of a Safe Environment

Sponsor: Judith Swift (Communication Studies, Coastal Institute)

When students begin to attend college, they expect to be consumed with busy schedules, heavy workloads, and an exciting social life. Students do not anticipate being in dangerous situations. However, this does not mean that such situations do not occur. Therefore, it is essential to teach students to be active participants in educating themselves and their peers regarding prevention and response to emergency situations. My Honors Project aims to increase the awareness of safety-related issues …

The Evolution Of Women's Opportunities In The Workplace: A Look At The Past To Interpret The Present, Emily Milich

Senior Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Teaching Economic Risk Management Through A Video Game Concept, Samantha Montella

Senior Honors Projects

Many video games imply economic behavior: making decisions within a game highlights the fundamentals of human action. The basic idea is that virtual worlds, like the real world, present us with a series of choices. Games impose digital scarcity, obliging players to weigh the benefits of different courses of action, make tradeoffs, and incur costs.

Good examples are found in the role-playing game (RPG) genre, where players face tough choices between different specializations and skill trees. Obliging players to make difficult decisions highlights the opportunity costs of choice, not the money cost. Games also encourage players to think entrepreneurially: to …

An Examination Of Non-Traditional Bridal Wear And Its Primary Consumer, Erica Thalmann, Kristina Dimaria

Senior Honors Projects

Bridal wear has traditionally been viewed as big white dresses. But as times change, so do brides’ preferences for bridal wear. Jumpsuits, rompers, short dresses, and other “non-traditional” choices are experiencing an increased demand in the market. Unfortunately, brides who seek these options are often not met with a promising assortment. This study examined primary consumers of non-traditional bridal wear. Specifically, we sought to find out whether women who belong to the LGBTQ community choose to consume more non-traditional bridal wear compared to heterosexual brides. The study also examined through which channels (e.g., online, in store, etc.) consumers predominantly purchase …

The Yosakoi Festival And Rural Revitalization In Kōchi Prefecture, Japan, Amy L. Kostka

Senior Honors Projects

Japan has been experiencing a population decline in rural areas since post World War II. Rural prefectures including Kōchi have been participating in nationwide efforts as well as local efforts to maintain population and hopefully attract more people to these areas. These efforts have been collectively categorized under the term rural revitalization. Rural revitalization has many aims: to encourage pride in local cultural practices, to attract tourists and new residents, and to boost local economies. In this study I examined how a festival might assist in rural revitalization efforts. Exploring the literature involving revitalization efforts provided the scaffolding for my …

The Future Of Radio, Samuel Murray

Senior Honors Projects

Since its inception and rise to popularity among major forms of mass media communication, radio has been thought to be the next technology to become obsolete. When television came out people thought radio was going to die out, but alas radio and television coexist to this day. When music videos, and eventually channels like MTV came out, radio was put into jeopardy as music would become more and more visual and the need for the radio would cease. This was not the case. When satellite channels came into being and started getting big name celebrities like Howard Stern to broadcast …

Transgender Identity And Dress Behavior, Lauryn Devine

Senior Honors Projects

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine how transgender individuals experience their bodies (e.g. body dissatisfaction) and how their body experience affects their shopping and clothing experiences. Clothing is often used as a way to define and express oneself. Therefore, if transgender individuals have a negative shopping experience and a negative outlook on clothing, it could make it more difficult to express their true identity. Society places extremely high expectations on individuals regarding appearance, which can be psychologically and emotionally difficult for cisgender individuals, but even more egregious for those individuals who do not fit society’s conventional gender …

In A World Where We Are Constantly Connected, How Connected Are We?, Samantha Valenza

Senior Honors Projects

Social media in today’s world is common amongst millennials (trend-setting young adults born 1980-2002) as a source of news and networking. Social media has yielded benefits, including the ability to connect with geographically dispersed, like-minded individuals for entertainment, employment opportunities, or to engage in activism. However, the popularity of social media, as well as the frequency of its use, raises questions about its effects on our lifestyles, habits, and interpersonal relationships. Despite its benefits, social media usage may have a darker side. Extreme cases involving addiction, fake news, identity theft, cyber-bullying, and other criminal activities have received some attention. Less …

#Keepvolunteeringcool - A Marketing Analysis Of The Uri Service Corps, Caroline L. Hacunda

Senior Honors Projects

Since 2009, the University of Rhode Island has offered Alternative Spring Break trips to students who are passionate about service and want to become more involved within the community doing meaningful and engaging volunteer work. These trips are completely student planned and fundraised with the guidance of a group of student leaders for each trip. Over the years, this program has exponentially grown, leading to our biggest year yet with two trips staying in Rhode Island and three out of state trips offered in 2017. In the past, the spring break trips were hosted by URI S.A.V.E.S and URI Habitat …

A Process For Field Studies In Behavioral Economics, Victoria Ferraro

Senior Honors Projects

Field experiments enable economists to test whether theory adequately captures behavior in natural settings, or whether evidence supports reevaluating the reasoned abstractions comprising the theory. Economics, and social science more generally, has increasingly valued the evidence provided by field studies. These studies typically require a relationship with an external partner site providing the environment for the study, but existent research offers little guidance for developing these relationships and designing procedures for effective collaboration. The purpose of this paper is to provide greater insight into what is necessary to conduct field experiments in economics, particularly behavioral economics in private market settings. …

Democracy Ends Here: U.S. Collective Bargaining Decline And An Alternative Policy Approach To Business Ownership, Sara Estep

Senior Honors Projects

In the United States, it seems that we cannot talk about democracy without discussing capitalism and vice versa. However, as soon as we step into work these ideals are simply thrown out the door. If we seek to govern our country democratically, should we also not have a democratic governance structure in our day to day workplaces? Unions have existed in the United States for over 150 years, but as the types of jobs that make up our economy and the demographics of the labor force have changed dramatically, the basic concept of the union has remained static. In turn, …

A Critical Analysis: Infusion Of Social Media And Traditional Media Strategies And Tactics In The Recipe For Success For Local, Main Street Usa Restaurants, Tori Partykevich

Senior Honors Projects

Restaurants can benefit greatly from carefully constructed public relations efforts. A strong plan and a dedicated use of both traditional and new media can help restaurants grow their business. It can be much more difficult for local, mom & pop restaurants to gain the attention that will boost their business than for large corporate chain companies who already have a well-known name. A positive public image of a restaurant is vital to its success and public relations strategies can help this to be achieved.

A solid social media presence, community involvement, local newspaper advertisements, special offers and public events can …

Virginia Woolf & Michel Foucault: Methods Of Justice, Elizabeth K. Doré

Senior Honors Projects

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) is primarily known today as a central British modernist novelist. In addition, she was also an important theorist of power, subjectivity, and ethics, especially as she turned her attention in the 1930s--as fascism spread and intensified across Europe--toward the public sphere in which European women were still then more or less without (easy) access. I read her late novels and essays alongside her diary in order to excavate the theoretical/political/ethical premises of her thought. I contend that she shares with the late thought of French philosopher Michel Foucault (1926-1984) an original conception of ethics. Woolf and Foucault’s …

How To Excel In The Fashion Industry, Elizabeth Weaver

Senior Honors Projects

How to Excel in the Fashion Industry

Elizabeth Weaver

Faculty Sponsor: Claire Lacoste Kapstein, Textiles, Merchandising and Design

Co-sponsor: Art Mead, Economics

The fashion industry is most often thought of as a glamorous business filled with successful designers and supermodels. For fashion students, however, the industry they seek to enter upon graduation is drastically different. Students entering merchandising and retailing related careers will spend a large portion of their time analyzing data and working in Microsoft Excel.
As a graduating senior with a dual degree in Textiles, Merchandising and Design and Economics, I wanted to create a project that could …

Development For The Past, Present, And Future: Defining And Measuring Sustainable Development, Max Cantor

Senior Honors Projects

In 1987, the United Nations released the Brundtland Report, which defined sustainable development as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” While this definition provides a relatively stable theoretical base from which development economists and political scientists can begin to tackle issues surrounding sustainable development, the inherently amorphous nature of this definition has also created a fair amount of ambiguity in both the economic literature surrounding sustainable development and the subsequent attempts by economists to measure it.

Historically, those interested in the science of development have typically …

The Psychology And Behavior Of Consumers In The Fashion Industry, Jessica Delace

Senior Honors Projects

I have always been interested in all aspects of the fashion industry, from apparel production to retail sales. After interning in the sales department of a New York based designer, I became fascinated by the customers who spent over $10,000 to revamp their wardrobe every season. Were these women buying their clothes based on their own preferences, or did they buy the original $3,000 design to fit their lifestyle as a New York City socialite?

After completing a literature review on the psychology of apparel consumers, I wanted to determine if shoppers’ preferences were based on their own opinions, or …

Evaluating Long Term Political Consequences Of Economic Restructuring Programs, James Mcgee

Senior Honors Projects

Development assistance loans provided by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund are accompanied by structural adjustment programs that must be implemented as a condition of receiving the loan. These economic reforms often include currency devaluation, inflation control, increased taxation, market liberalization, decreased expenditure, and a decrease in the size of government. Populations within countries are drastically effected by these structural economic reforms as social welfare programs are often cut, government workers laid off, and the domestic economy struggles to compete in the global marketplace. The implementation of restructuring programs also constrains the policy options that are available to the …

China And Latin America: A Match Made In Trade Heaven Or Dependency Reloaded?, Meghan Skira

Senior Honors Projects

China’s economy is expanding rapidly, and the emerging powerhouse is searching for energy resources, raw materials, and markets to maintain its economic growth. China has shown an insatiable appetite for Latin American natural resources, commodities, and agricultural products, from oil to lumber to copper to soybeans. Trade values between the two regions increased greatly from $1.3 billion in 1980 to about $13 billion in 2000 to over $50 billion in 2005. Latin America has the raw materials that China needs to fuel its economic expansion and offers a large market for cheap Chinese manufactured goods. Many analysts claim that Sino-Latin …

La Mondialisation Qui Menace L’Identité Française Et Ses Relations Avec Le Commerce, Kelly Mcbrien

Senior Honors Projects

Globalization is an integral part of our society today: economically, socially and politically. Some may see Globalization as the world coming together through the ease and speed of capital, goods, services, ideas, information, and technology across our “shrinking” borders. Others may hold a more negative view of Globalization, and may see it as simply growing conflicts between nations and cultures. One of the central problems of globalization is the fear of homogenization or Americanization. Many cultures see globalization as cultural uniformity. As Benedict Anderson has said, “one man’s imagined community is another mans political prison.” This quote can help to …

Communicating With Students Via E-Mail: Creating No Excuse For “There’S Nothing To Do On Campus”, Jessica Rusack

Senior Honors Projects

In the past decade, technology has transformed how society communicates. From the internet to cell phones to iPods and video games, interactive communication has become the norm. At the University of Rhode Island, students adapt quickly to the constantly changing technology. Yet student organizations and the University as a whole have not adapted as quickly to such changes. This has led to an uninformed and uninterested student body when it comes to programming and events on campus. As students instant message on their laptops and text message on their cell phones (simultaneously, of course), organizations, clubs and athletics struggle to …